The Shame Game - Recap

The episode begins with Sharon and team seeing a broadcast on the internet, recounting the death of a young girl named Shannon. The man recounting the whole thing, then reveals that Shannon is his sister. The man then talks about human trafficking. The man, whose name is Derek then talks about the shelter than he runs named Shannon house, which rescues hundreds of such women who are victims of trafficking. It is then seen that Derek has been murdered. Turns out, he was murdered while sitting at his office, in his house. The cops arrived at the scene, as the neighbors, complained that they saw a young girl jump out of Derek’s house, from the second floor bathroom.

Sharon is informed that the girl Elena is a hooker, has been apprehend and is being brought in for questioning. Also, the victim’s cell phone and computer are missing. Derek was politically very well connected, and was working with senators and big politicians to get a bill passed against human trafficking. Derek had called senator Mac Austin, just before his death, as he was the one Derek was working with regarding the bill. Julio later comes in and informs everyone that, Elena only speaks Spanish, and therefore she did hear a fight when she was locked in Derek’s bathroom, but didn’t understand what it was about. The senator leaves behind his assistant John to monitor the progress of the case. A woman then comes in and introduces herself as Marisol.

She tells Sharon she works with Derek. She says she is worried that, whoever killed Derek might have murdered the girl too. Marisol is the executive director of Shannon House. Julio tries to talk to Elena in Spanish, but she isn’t ready to say anything, as she is afraid of her pimp Charles Alvarez, although he has been arrested. Daniel Dunn, who is allegedly Rusty’s father, comes in to meet him. Sharon decides to do a definitive DNA test to confirm if Daniel is really Rusty’s father. Sharon then thoroughly questions Daniel, while waiting for the DNA test to be carried out. Mike then comes in to carry out the DNA test. Andy on the other hand asks Alvarez about Derek.

Alvarez though, isn’t very cooperative and has his lawyer sitting in with him. Andy tells Alvarez’s lawyer that, he was found thanks to one of his girls. Sharon’s team then gives Alvarez a glimpse of the girl they are talking about. On seeing Alvarez, Elena immediately starts speaking in English and tells him “don’t be mad Chucky”. Alvarez then suddenly loses his cool and proceeds to attack Elena, but is restrained by the team. Sharon and team later conclude that Chucky wasn’t probably the one at Derek’s home last night, as he would have easily broken the bathroom door and gotten to Elena, who was hiding there. Later, Sharon tells Rusty about his father, but he is in no mood to meet him.

He is in fact extremely disturbed that, he is being forced to meet his father. Rusty feels Sharon wants to get rid of him and that is why his father has been brought in. Sharon does her best to explain to him that, it isn’t so. Provenza too comes in Sharon’s defense and tells Rusty, if Sharon wanted to get rid of him, she could have done it months ago. Later, the coroner tells Provenza and Sharon, about the multiple stab wounds that were inflicted on the victim. Sharon while the coroner is out getting something, hints that Provenza should make sure Daniel is a good enough guy to take care of someone like Rusty. The coroner then comes in and describes to the two, how Derek was murdered.

The coroner reveals that the killer was very thorough and made sure the “victim was dead several times over”. The two, then conclude that the killer might have been a soldier. Later, Mike and Andy take in Lt Angel Hayes who was seen in the video with Derek, for questioning. Turns out, she worked with Derek, as many army men get into the bad habit of going to prostitutes, and she was heading a program with Derek in order to discourage this behavior. She tells the two; Derek wanted army recruits tested to see if they were sexual abusers. But she reveals that kind of test takes years for the army to approve. Hence, when Derek was refused, he went directly to the Secretary of the Army, to get this test approved.

She then informs them that, Derek was asking about a Lt. John Jacob Felton, who is the same guy working for Senator Mac Austin now. The two are therefore shocked to hear his name. Provenza meets up with Daniel, and tells him Rusty still hasn’t made up his mind about meeting him. Daniel though, is ready to wait, till Rusty changes his mind. Daniel reveals to Provenza that, he is engaged to be married in a few months, and his wife to be already has two girls. So before he breaks the news to his future wife, he wants to know for sure as to what he has to tell her. Later, Sharon and team conclude that, Derek was blackmailing John, as he has lied on his resume that he was a ret. Captain, when he was only a lieutenant. Derek was doing so because; the funding for Shannon House had been halved by the senator.

Sharon and Provenza also conclude that, Elena might have seen more than she is leading on, and might have actually seen John murder Derek. Andy then in Marisol’s presence, questions Elena. John is also present with Sharon and team, and watches Elena being questioned. Then suddenly, in the middle of their conversation, Andy switches off the video feed. Sharon and team pretend that there must be a technical snag. Andy tells Elena, its ok if she didn’t see anything, she simply has to pretend that she did, so the killer things she actually saw him murder Derek. She tells Andy, she shall do as is told. John on the other hand is being misguided that, it’s Elena’s pimp who is the actual culprit.

They then pretend like the video snag has been resolved and the video feed is back online. Andy is then seen questioning Elena once again. He asks Elena if she saw who entered Derek’s house “last night”. She tells Andy she saw the person, and she also saw him go to his car after the fight. She also reveals that the car was a BMW. She describes to Andy how the man looked like. John on the other hand is shown becoming visibly uncomfortable at the revelations Elena is making. She also reveals that, she heard Derek say the name John. John on hearing this tires to leave, but is arrested for the murder of Derek Hansen.

A visibly agitated John tells Sharon that he did not kill Derek. Sharon narrates to him the compelling proof that they have against him. John in the end is barely able to stand, and falls to the ground. John in the end agrees to give a written statement, in return for a conviction of murder in the second degree. Later, Rusty and Daniel come face to face, but Rusty runs away instead of talking to Daniel. The episode ends at this point.